Ahmed Moustafa, professor and chair of AUC's Department of Biology, has been awarded $2.1 million from Wellcome Trust for a project that will establish molecular surveillance of the coronavirus genomes in the MENA region, bridging research disparities and leading to better health outcomes. 

Moustafa will join a new international consortium of scientists from MENA who will track emerging variants of the virus and investigate the association between variants and vaccination programs in each country. His specific role is leading the research workgroup in Egypt.

“This grant is a recognition of the importance of diversity in genetic research,” Moustafa said, explaining that the Middle East and Africa are vastly underrepresented in virus genome databases, even in cases of COVID-19. “For decades, most genetic research has been focused on specific populations — Europeans and North Americans. Now we know that genetic findings are not always transferable to other populations.”

Over a period of 12 months, the consortium will collect samples from participating countries — including nasal swabs for the virus, lab test results, demographics and vaccine data. 

“The viral samples will be sequenced using next-generation sequencing platforms,” Moustafa said. “Then, a bioinformatics analysis will follow to determine the genetic variations in the sequenced viruses and their potential association with the collected parameters, if any.”

Accompanied by journal publications and conferences, a public database with the genome data will be made available via GISAID, a global science initiative that provides open access to genomic data of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is expected that these reports will provide insights to public health administrators on strategies for vaccination programs and managing the pandemic in general,” Moustafa said.

Sample collection work will begin in July, according to Moustafa. Until then, he and his team will be applying for research ethics approval and recruiting research assistants and students to help with the project.

“We are glad that Wellcome Trust recognized the significance of enriching the SARS-CoV-2 genetic variation information by focusing on our region,” Moustafa concluded, noting his excitement to collaborate again with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and to lead the research group in Egypt.

Pioneering a research registry on novel biomarkers found in early stages of dementia within the Egyptian population, Shimaa Heikal (MSc '22), PhD candidate at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology (I-GHHE), is among the first 10 awardees for the 100 PhDs in Africa program. 

Heikal joined as the only candidate from Egypt, competing for the award against 850 other applicants. Her PhD project is titled “Piloting a research registry for dementia: The Egyptian Dementia Network (EDN) registry,” for which she received an honorable mention for the Master's Student Research Award at the 2022 American Public Health Association conference in December.

"This is my first international award — a major milestone for me," Heikal said. "I am grateful for the support I have received from my mentor, Hassan El-Fawal at I-GHHE and from AUC as a whole."

Heikal's journey began in 2018, when she attended one of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) conferences hosted by AUC, where Mohamed Salama, visiting associate professor at I-GHHE, was a speaker. A discussion surrounding the lack of accurate data on dementia was prompted by a neuroscience researcher in the audience. This intrigued Heikal, who began researching the topic. Eventually, she completed her MPA thesis project as the preliminary study to determine the feasibility of creating the database in Egypt, under the supervision of Ghada Barsoum, associate professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at AUC, and Salama. 

“I did not want to stop there, I wanted to take it further — so I applied to the 100 PhDs in Africa program in hopes of implementing the project and achieving the original dream of creating a registry for Egypt,” Heikal added. 

The 100 PhDs in Africa program is run by a joint collaboration between the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, aka École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco. 

EPFL is one of the top institutes in the field of technology and science, globally ranked 14^th by the QS World University Ranking, and under which the Excellence in Africa initiative established the 100 PhDs in Africa program to recruit PhD researchers in African universities. Heikal and her fellow awardees will go on to complete their research in collaboration with a co-supervisor from EPFL and then apply that research within Africa. 

Heikal’s PhD research will be the pilot phase of developing a dementia registry on Egyptian patients by targeting three sites in Egypt, and which would then eventually be expanded. This pilot phase is vital in evaluating the effectiveness of the model, in order to ultimately be able to work towards a comprehensive and nationwide registry. The Egyptian team, together with collaboration with EPFL, will, through data collection of Egyptian patients, examine the biomarkers from the first pilot and discover new tools to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of dementia in Egyptian populations. She is conducting her research under the supervision of Salama and Hilal Lashuel from EPFL.

Aside from having completed one master's at AUC in Biotechnology and nearing completion of a second in Public Administration, Heikal also took first place in the Research and Creativity Convention’s graduate poster competition at AUC in March, for her poster titled “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Chemotherapeutic Agents by OT-515 and/or S-NACH.”

This was, for Heikal, “a wonderful moment,” and she felt a renewed sense of responsibility.

“We should now continue training new students, sharing with them what we have so that they can build on it — this is the ultimate success,” she said.

Although a separate project from the registry, working on the poster aided Heikal in learning basic lab techniques and scientific research methodologies that will come in handy during her PhD. 

Similarly, completing two master’s degrees gave Heikal a more holistic, interdisciplinary perspective on dealing with health problems from a social as well as scientific perspective. 

“My experience has encouraged me to continue pursuing my PhD in global public health and combine all that I have learned to work on an interdisciplinary project that will eventually benefit Egyptian patients,” Heikal said. 

In February 2022, Heikal and Salama also published a paper in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience journal titled “The Impact of Disease Registries on Advancing Knowledge and Understanding of Dementia Globally” — alongside fellow researchers Yuliya Richard, Ahmed Moustafa, and Brian Lawlor. 

Having applied to the 100 PhDs in Africa program in April 2021, Heikal passed the first phase in August 2021, completed an interview for the second phase in September 2021, and was finally accepted in February 2022. The almost year-long journey resulted in an array of excitement, but now, a longer journey begins to enact the pilot phase of the registries that will potentially immensely benefit the process of detecting dementia in Egyptian patients. 

“It’s a huge opportunity for Africa. We can take on new projects that we weren’t previously able to do and didn’t have the expertise in,” Heikal said. “The EDN project could be a step in the road of developing disease registry databases in the African countries afterward.”

Sarah Abdelkader (MSc ‘20), an environmental health PhD student at AUC's Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology (I-GHHE), has won the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talented Scientist award for Egypt, for her innovative work in sustainable agricultural wastewater treatment.

Abdelkader’s research, conducted with Ahmed El-Gendy, associate professor of Construction Engineering, explores the possibility of an onsite treatment unit to treat agricultural wastewater. Since many rural villages in Egypt don’t have reliable sewage systems or a treatment plant for agricultural wastewater, developments in wastewater treatment are crucial.

“Nationwide, agricultural wastewater is often polluted, what with municipal and industrial waste dumping agricultural drainages—smaller villages [often without proper treatment systems] are particularly vulnerable to this,” says Abdelkader.

The contaminants from industrial wastewater trickle down to become environmental and water pollutants, affecting soil quality, marine life, and entire food systems. The one major way to break this cycle, she explains, is by resolving water contamination—although the issue is complex to tackle, given its environmental, social, health and economic layers that have wide-ranging, accumulating consequences.

“Water contamination is a highly pertinent topic, particularly since Egypt suffers from water scarcity; we are below the water poverty line," she said. "Solid waste management and water contamination are tied to food insecurity and adverse health effects, all leading to low production and low economic growth.”

Abdelkader's treatment unit is uniquely based on filtration and absorption; it's onsite and mobile, and can be placed directly in sewage systems rather than treatment plants. Farmers can thereby access treated water without the otherwise lengthy process of wastewater going through a treatment unit, making it far more efficient than typical agricultural wastewater management processes. 

The process she proposes is also more economical than other alternatives.

As a first-year PhD student, Abdelkader is keenly interested in exploring these links between wastewater treatment and other economic development or environmental themes in her work, particularly public health.

“My master’s was in environmental engineering, and my research tackled industrial wastewater treatment using low-cost materials like solid waste,” Abdelkader elucidates, adding that her previously published MSc thesis excerpt, which she also completed at AUC, helped her qualify for the L’Oréal award. “I chose to earn my PhD at I-GHHE because I wanted to see the situation from another angle—rather than solely that of engineering—and to study the effect of these contaminants.” 

Abdelkader also lauds the “throes of amazing, promising” research at AUC deserving of public attention, and stresses her view that interdisciplinary collaboration would yield a greater impact. 

She received her award at the inaugural L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Young Talents Awards Ceremony for MENA held on February 9 at Expo 2020 in Dubai.

“When I first received the email [about the award], I didn’t believe it—I thought it was a scam! It was such a wonderful experience, and I didn’t see it coming because I thought my own work is comparably a blip in the deep sea of solid homegrown research authored by talented researchers in Egypt,” Abdelkader laughs humbly.

She also describes her intellectually stimulating experience of meeting academics from around the world at the awards ceremony in Dubai as “surreal”—noting that it opened her eyes to new ideas and perspectives. 

Women remain persistently underrepresented in STEM subjects, a disparity that initiatives like the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Program aim to reverse by boosting the female representation in STEM. The L’Oréal UNESCO Young Talented Scientist award celebrates rising talent and promising women-led research across STEM subjects. 

Despite global gender representation disparities in the STEM field, close to 50% of STEM graduates in Egypt are women, Abdelkader points out—women accounted for 47.2% of Egypt’s university science students in 2018-19 according to CAPMAS data. Yet, behind this veneer of equity that the stats allude to, women scientists are far less often represented in STEM careers and research, and their work is often not platformed in these still stubbornly male-dominated fields.

“I hope my work has a positive impact on the Egyptian research community and motivates female researchers particularly, helping people realize that their research can indeed serve and improve their communities,” Abdelkader says. “I also hope that women—and other underrepresented groups—realize that they can achieve all their dreams, despite persistent structural inequalities.”

AUC’s Mina Sami, assistant professor of Economics, and Wael Abdallah, assistant professor of Finance, have published a first-of-its-kind report on Africa’s crypto boom, aptly entitled “Does Cryptocurrency Hurt African Firms?” 

A lack of data around cryptocurrency in Africa, coupled with ever-increasing public interest, earned Sami and Abdallah recognition as among the top 10% of SSRN authors in the MENA region.

Their latest report, published in February 2022, shows that cryptocurrency negatively impacts African micro-entities, particularly those in “less competitive” sectors such as energy, financial, industrial, and consumer services. “Each 10% growth in the cryptocurrency market cap reduces the market value of African firms by 0.76%,” Sami and Abdallah’s paper outlines. 

It also finds that cryptocurrency trading in Africa has a particularly adverse effect on firms that are less experienced and highly indebted. 

Additionally, Sami and Abdallah outline how macroeconomic factors and companies’ internal policies are part of the adverse landscape created by the crypto boom. Even with cryptocurrency banned in many African countries, this fails to protect companies in less competitive sectors. 

The reason for this, Sami argues, lies in behavioral finance. “The pain of loss is higher than satisfaction from gains,” he affirms; consequently, with some sectors underperforming as the coronavirus pandemic shook businesses and economies globally, investors are looking for alternatives. 

In much of the world, including developing economies, the answer became crypto. 

The crypto boom is particularly worth watching in MENA and Africa as it may, on the surface, seem at odds with low financial inclusion levels plaguing emerging and developing markets in the same geographic vicinity—a shocking 57% of Africa’s population is unbanked.

Despite the parallels in many of these emerging markets, they are far from being a monolith. According to global data, 2.6% of Africa’s population are crypto users, although this figure is calculated through median ranges, and is not necessarily representative of every market in Africa. Egypt’s crypto users stand at 1.7 million, a massive number despite the stigma and skepticism with which the public widely views crypto and digital currencies, and as the Central Bank of Egypt does not yet allow crypto trading. Another commendable market is Kenya, ranking fourth globally with 8.5% of the country’s population being crypto users. 

Sami and Abdallah see that crypto’s popularity is poised to grow even more. “I believe there will be great growth in Africa’s crypto markets in the next year. People are unbanked and the stock market has high transaction costs, while cryptocurrency is decentralized and transaction costs are low…So the trend is very likely to grow in Africa, especially with the prospect of inflation and depreciating currencies in much of the continent; this makes crypto very attractive for traders…a safe haven,” Sami explains, grouping crypto with more traditional safe haven assets like gold and crude oil.

While Sami and Abdallah don’t offer a solid answer as to whether crypto should be legalized in more African markets, they do say that their findings call for an excruciating need for further innovation—this, they say, is the one prime aspect that might mitigate the adverse effect crypto growth has on African micro-entities.

“Firms must be more competitive in the market,” Sami affirmed, quoting Robert Solow, winner of a Nobel Prize in Economics, in saying, “What guarantees country-level economic growth in the long-term is innovation.”

He continued: “Real estate and IT thrive [in Africa] because they innovate, whilst in other sectors productivity is very low—something that we need to boost. Entrepreneurs in Africa are not well guided or backed with enough knowledge, which makes companies [especially SMEs] less productive.”

Speaking on the paper’s recognition and ranking, Sami said, “This opens a new area for research, encouraging researchers and academics to work on these topics. People living here in the region, or outside, need information and research about this market.”

In a rapidly changing world, there is no one easily digestible answer to tackle the threats posed by shifting market trends and novel prospective assets. Sami and Abdallah’s new report shows just that; with all the merits that crypto offers investors, and all the promise it holds in Africa, this comes at massive cost for conventional institutions and a host of less-than-lucrative sectors.

“The role of the government should be to increase innovation and improve regulation in the traditional financial markets, in order to compete with cryptocurrency,” concludes Abdallah. “In improving the efficiency of our financial markets, we must be more transparent and pass regulations that facilitate investment flows.”

These lessons will not only capitalize on crypto’s promise—despite most cryptocurrencies posing a generally high risk level—but also potentially reap wider gains for economies at large.

Dean of AUC’s School of Business Sherif Kamel '88, '90, '13 recently published his debut book, Leading Change in Challenging Times: Lessons of Disruption and Innovation from Egypt – Thoughts, Observations, and Reflections.

The book reflects the experiences and sentiments of Kamel, who grew inspired by Egypt’s history and attached to its cultural heritage and resilient people. Its underlying theme is the profound belief that Egypt remains uniquely positioned as the land of unparalleled opportunity, and that it can become an intellectual, cultural, economic and geopolitical powerhouse within a dynamic and changing world.

News@AUC caught up with Kamel to learn more.

Give us a summary of your book

The book is a collection of my personal thoughts, observations, reflections and beliefs on a number of subjects that are very dear to my heart.

It touches on Egypt—its history, the potential of its youth and the economy—and, on the organizational level, the importance of thought leadership, the governance model and how agile, adaptive and iterative the organization needs to be to be able to navigate the challenges we face every day. It also covers the culture within organizations and how entrepreneurial and innovative they should be. Finally, the book covers the institutional history of AUC’s School of Business.

The book is in a hybrid format: part memoir, part institutional history and part inspirational business leadership advice. It mainly focuses on a period of five years between 2009 and 2014—while I was serving as Dean of AUC’s School of Business.

This book is for a diverse audience, including students, scholars, learners, administrators, deans–especially of business schools, entrepreneurs, CEOs mentors, policymakers and the like.

Why the title, Leading Change in Challenging Times: Lessons of Disruption and Innovation from Egypt?

We live in challenging times—whether economically, socially or politically—and that affects individuals, organizations, businesses and society at large. 

The title also points to the changes that have been happening within the realm of organizational development and digital transformation, not just over the past few years, but over the past 40 years. 

What prompted you to write this book?

I've had experiences in government, civil society, the corporate world and academia. They all relate to one element, and that is human capital development, something I believe to be the most important asset in every society, and surely, Egypt.

So, I thought of sharing my experiences and insights, not only around accomplishments but also including failures, for there is a lot to learn from our various endeavors including and ups and downs. I firmly believe that sharing one’s experience is a huge privilege—it's an honor, not an obligation, so that we all learn from each other and build on each other’s journeys

The initial idea was to cover the School of Business, but then I realized that the school doesn't stand alone. It's part of a larger ecosystem and affects people inside and outside of our community. So I thought to look at the entire ecosystem of the school both on and off campus: how it develops, how it impacts itself and how it progresses while facing challenges and opportunities.

I also wanted to document the institutional memory of the School of Business. The legacy of the school extends 75 years. Since we launched our first programs in economics back in 1947, we have had quite an impact on higher education and the community, both in Egypt, and in the region we serve most, which is the Middle East and North Africa. 

Finally, I wanted to showcase the school to those that may not know much about it. My aim has always been to increase its global footprint, and that can only be done by telling the story of the school, its impact and its ongoing work on and off campus, including its portfolio of community development and services..

What is the book’s intended message?

The book aims to convey a number of messages. 

1. For the society: Human capital is Egypt’s most important asset and the potential game-changer for society.

2. For the individual: Learning and development come in different shapes and forms and––more importantly––it is a lifelong journey and never a destination. 

3. For the organization: Sustained organizational success requires thought leadership, a vision, strategic planning, efficient execution, an institutionalized corporate culture, proper governance, an empowered team and a dynamic and adaptive enabling environment for innovation and discovery.

4. For the future: The growing power and reach of digital transformation and the innovative capacities of entrepreneurial mindsets and offerings of tech-enabled startups will continue to transform lives and livelihoods creating opportunities for socioeconomic development and growth.

Describe your process for writing this book.

Writing this book was an interesting journey. I began collecting my thoughts to write something about the school back in 2014. I originally planned to finish this project in just two or three years, but after seven and a half years, the book was finally published.

The time it took was worth it, and overall the journey was extremely enjoyable, especially pinpointing the messages I wanted to get across, building on the history of the School of Business and looking forward at what to expect in the future of business and management education during a disruptive period.

Did you discover anything in particular that surprised you while writing this book? 

When you spend time accumulating experiences and journeys, things tend to pop up and you begin to think about them differently. Something I noticed was that my diverse experience across different sectors have never been focused on anything other than inspiration, collaboration, hard work, shared experiences, human capital development and relationships—that, to me, is the only way impact can be realized. It was nice to identify a thread linking the experiences of my career.

Can you summarize for us some important lessons you learned by leading AUC's School of Business?

I think that would require another book!

First, I want to highlight the importance of building and supporting a strong team. Part of doing this is creating a team that will challenge you. I myself am lucky to have such a team here at AUC.

Second, in an ever-changing and transforming world, it is very important to remain relevant and competitive. I don’t see myself as the dean of a business school, I see myself as the CEO of an intellectual enterprise. In this regard, you must always push for quality, for more diversity, for more innovation, competitiveness and agility. Don’t be afraid to take risks—even if you don’t reach your target, you will learn something new.

Next, I’ve learned the necessity of practicing what you preach. For years, the School of Business has been promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in Egypt. We must practice this by remaining entrepreneurial in leading the school and consistently raising the bar for ourselves.

Does the book touch on AUC's role in developing Egypt? If so, could you elaborate?

Yes, the entire book expands on the role of the School of Business in educating the next generation of business leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and change agents—whether in government, civil society or the private sector. For close to 103 years, AUC has been an integral, impactful player in Egypt’s higher education ecosystem through leadership, research, community development and services. 

The book’s summary calls Egypt the "land of unparalleled opportunities"—could you briefly explain this statement?

Egypt has a long history of cultural heritage. It's a growing population with ample resources and opportunities across different sectors, most of it remaining untapped.

In terms of people, we are capable of accomplishing much more than where we are today. The tourism, agriculture, industry and ICT sectors––to mention a few––have high potential as well, and for these sectors to reach their true potential, there must be an integrated development strategy that includes investing in Egypt’s human capital in education and lifelong learning with universities and higher education institutions with an invaluable role to play.

I dream and aspire that in the next few years, Egypt will start realizing some of these untapped opportunities.

What feedback have you received from readers so far?

I am delighted to say that people have so far found the book exciting. Readers have said that it has a personal tone of someone telling their story, which invites people to share and understand my journey. Readers have felt like they are a part of a conversation rather than reading lines of advice. This was exactly my intention. 

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’d like to end by stating that each journey has its unique added value. And I believe that each person, from all walks of life, can and should contribute something. All they need is an opportunity, an opening. 

It's up to those who are in these leading or enabling positions to provide that opportunity to others and help them grow and succeed. Doing so will bring a healthy mix of perspectives, and in turn more inclusion and diversity to organizations, both of which will strengthen them. 

This book is just one more attempt to highlight a unique journey that represents a business school in an emerging economy that has served society for many years. The narrative shows how things went, including the rights and the wrongs. We need to build on what has happened and take it to the next level. This book is for another 75 years of impacting society, introducing innovative offerings and engaging with different constituents for a better future to all.

Get your copy of Leading Change in Challenging Times here.

Want to learn more? Attend a virtual book talk on Leading Change in Challenging Times on Thursday, March 31 at 5 pm.

When Ahmed Marey '21 heard his fellow students were receiving their acceptances into the Al Ghurair STEM Scholars Program, he checked his inbox but was disappointed to find it empty.

"My friends reached out to me when they got accepted. I checked, but did not find any acceptance emails," Marey said. "It left me a bit disappointed."

The Scholars Program provides youth from 17 Arab countries with the opportunity to pursue their undergraduate or graduate studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects at 15 partner universities in the region and beyond. 

Luckily, Marey thought to check his spam folder and found an email saying he was accepted. Since then, he has forged an exciting academic career in architecture at the American University in Cairo.

In March 2021, Marey and his research partner, Ahmed Barakat of Franklin & Marshall College, won the Best Presentation Award for the 9th International Conference of the Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD). The paper they presented, "The Customized Habitat: An exploration of personality-induced mass customization through shape grammars," explores different architectural needs based on personality traits.

"I honestly didn't expect to receive such an award at my very first conference, especially knowing that Barakat and I were probably among the youngest to join it,” Marey said. “I have to admit, I felt exquisite and encouraged to do more and more in this field."

To research the paper, Marey and Barakat focused on using computational design techniques, specifically "shape grammars," to achieve customized habitats for low-income people. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shape grammars are a category of computer systems with visual rules that can transform one shape into another. By applying these rules repeatedly, a simple shape can develop into a complex pattern.

Since previous research points to a potential impact of personality on perceptions of the architectural space, Marey and Barakat wanted to investigate this further. They used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to survey 187 individuals, investigating the correlations between personal traits (mind, energy, nature, tactics, and identity) and preferences of architectural aspects (exposure, circulation, view, plan layout, and interior colors). 

According to their research, Marey and Barakat's findings demonstrate an actual connection between MBTI personality patterns and architectural preferences. They found that the mind influences the visual perception of architecture, and energy affects our perception of the view, plan layout and interior colors. Based upon these correlations, Marey and Barakat programmed shape grammars to provide a basis for optimized mass customization. 

In the field of architecture, it is well established that mass production, despite its economic efficiency, fails to appeal to the very people it is meant to accommodate. Mass customization, on the other hand, allows for the consideration of personal differences, which Marey and Barakat’s research supports. However, Marey noted, mass customization requires more time, effort and resources, hence the general reliance on mass production. 

Through this process, Marey and Barakat hope architects can develop a more habitable space in which neither personality traits nor valuable resources are neglected.

ASCAAD is a society that teaches, conducts research and practices in computer-aided architectural design in the Arab world. Its 2021 conference, hosted virtually in March 2021 by the Department of Architecture at the American University in Cairo, focused on addressing the major shift in the architecture field due to computational design, which is gradually renouncing the typical morphogenetic-centered associations in the architectural discourse. 

At the conference, Marey and Barakat presented their research findings to the ASCAAD Scientific Review Committee, which awarded them Best Presentation. Their paper was one of 58 accepted papers by authors representing 18 countries worldwide.

When Marey discovered he and Barakat received the award, he was elated to know that their months of research and preparation for the presentation were a success. 

The day after discovering the email, Marey took a 3-hour car ride — with a broken leg — to fill out the paperwork needed for the award.

"I have to admit,” Marey said. “The feeling of euphoria has overcome the hurt in my leg.”

Marey credits the program for making it possible for him to pursue his life-long dream of being an architect. 

“It fits perfectly with my passion for both arts and sciences," said Marey. "I have received not only financial support to continue my education, but also support with my career and personal development."

Thanks to the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, Marey was also selected to attend the World Government Summit in Dubai 2018 under the "Arab Youth Pioneers” category.

"This program is a life-changing experience that I'll always be grateful for," he concluded.

Fifteen current Tomorrow’s Leaders students joined the newly launched College-to-Work Pipeline (TLP) program this spring, becoming the first TLP cohort at AUC. 

Giving students the opportunity to launch their dream startup or get hands-on experience with industry leaders, TLP aims to bridge the skill gaps between the college to work pipeline, enabling undergraduate and graduate students to find meaningful employment and leadership opportunities in their areas of interest or launch their own startups upon graduation to become future employers. It is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Assistance Coordination and the American University of Beirut, Lebanese American University, Georgia Tech and AUC.

“The TLP program offers Tomorrow’s Leaders students a unique opportunity to either work on a startup idea or on a real-life hands-on project,” explained Ahmed Tolba ’97, ’01, associate professor of marketing, chair of the management department and academic director of TLP at AUC.

Partnering with the public and private sectors as well as nongovernmental organizations, the program offers Tomorrow’s Leaders students relevant, on-the-job training experience and entrepreneurial opportunities attuned to market demands. TLP seeks to incentivize employers to increase employment opportunities and preparedness for youth leadership in the MENA region.

“I am very excited about this opportunity and confident it will be an enriching and valuable experience for students,” Tolba said.

Under TLP, AUC has adopted two of Georgia Tech’s programs for students to take part in. The first is the Create-X course, which will instill entrepreneurial confidence in students and empower them to launch successful startups. According to Tolba, three TL students this semester will be guided by experienced faculty and industry experts to turn an idea into an entrepreneurial venture.

Create-X is implemented under the AUC course Entrepreneurial Lab: Developing and Launching a New Venture. Industry partners for Create-X so far include Wataneya for the Development of Orphanages and the AUC Venture Lab.

The other program, Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP), is a transformative approach to enhancing higher education by engaging undergraduate and graduate students in ambitious long-term and large-scale projects. Three TLP students will join industry partners, as well as other students from different disciplines, to tackle three real-life projects under the supervision of experienced faculty members. 

Industry partners for this semester include UNDP Accelerator Lab, Fusion Solutions, UNICEF Egypt and a local design studio, with the projects varying from developing a video game and creating an e-platform to raising awareness of nutrition and preserving the biodiversity of tourist areas. 

“I joined the gaming for impact project because I want to utilize all my capabilities (management, computer science and graphic design) to truly experience what multidisciplinary means. It will help me accelerate my learning process and push forward my career.” said Youssef Anwar, a TLP student majoring in management of information and communication technology.

Ola Dayeh, a TLP student completing her master’s in migration and refugee studies who is working on a UNDP-affiliated VIP project, echoed this sentiment: “I am thrilled to have this opportunity of working with a team and to be supported by a faculty member and development professionals.”

Most projects will be complete by the end of the semester, while some that require more time will continue through the summer. Sulaf Taha, TL senior director, is eager to see the results of both programs.

“We hope that this pilot project can demonstrate the success of hands-on cocurricular learning in enhancing students’ employability and ability to succeed in the changing dynamic labor market,” she said.

For her innovative research in the manufacturing of non-plastic single-use tableware using sugarcane bagasse, Irene Samy Fahim ‘03, ‘11, ‘15, an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Service Engineering and Management at Nile University in Cairo, has been named a winner of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2021 Egypt young talents fellowships program.

The program is part of the global L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science initiative, which recognizes women from all areas of the globe each year for their exceptional scientific contributions and further supports their research with a grant. Fahim joined two other women from Egypt and 11 others from the Middle East and North Africa in accepting the award at Dubai Expo 2020 in early February.

She described her feelings at the ceremony as a combination of pride and success. 

“It feels good that two years of hard work is paying off,” Fahim said. “I am also happy that my two sons can see the impact of their mother's work as a contribution to society.”

Fahim’s research that earned her the award includes breakthrough developments in the manufacturing process of single-use tableware made from the waste of sugarcane, known as bagasse.

Her additions and adjustments will allow manufacturers to save 90% of the water and 50% of the electricity used in producing sugarcane bagasse tableware. Using this process, Fahim has developed a prototype and conducted a feasibility study for the tableware.

“There is huge demand for an alternative to single-use plastics, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she pointed out. “Furthermore, the product itself is also biodegradable and releases minimal amounts of carbon dioxide during the composting process.”

Fahim’s current venture is not the scientist’s only contribution to the environmental cause. She has created plastic bags from shrimp shells, insulation material from fruit peels and a hardwood floor replacement from agricultural waste.

Her hard work in this field has not gone unnoticed. She was a recipient of the Hazem Ezzat Research Excellence Award in 2021 and the State Encouragement Award for Women in 2020. She has received a myriad of research grants and is among the members of the first scientific council of the Egyptian Young Academy of Sciences as a part of the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology to empower and encourage young Egyptian scientists in science and technology. 

She also received the Newton Mosharfa Institutional Link Award for two consecutive years in collaboration with the UK’s Nottingham University, for which she was acknowledged by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the 3rd National Youth Conference in Ismailia in 2017.

Fahim grew up in a house full of engineers — her parents, brothers and grandfather all practiced this profession.

“I know it sounds cliché, but spending my early years surrounded by this kind of analytical thinking made me want to be an engineer,” she said, happily adding, “I was a nerd.”

Since starting as an undergraduate at AUC, to becoming the first holder of a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University and beyond, Fahim has been committed to “humanitarian engineering” — that is, harnessing her specialized skills and knowledge to tackle major environmental issues, specifically in the realm of waste management.

She first discovered this passion while working on a project with a focus on recycling under Salah El Haggar, professor in AUC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Fahim found herself immediately hooked. “[El Haggar] is the professor that placed me on this route,” she said, expressing her gratitude for his role in her journey.

Fahim fondly recalls her long stretch at the University, which ran from 1998 until 2015 and thereafter included an additional year as a part-time faculty member. “Once, I was walking behind a couple of students in the hallway, and after one of them asked a question, the other pointed me out, saying ‘The girl in front of you has been at AUC for forever. You can ask her anything.’”

All jokes aside, Fahim hopes that her recognition will inspire and empower other young women to pursue research in waste management. “L'Oréal-UNESCO is doing a great job to promote how women are excelling in research,” she said. “Their support and recognition is filling a gap.”

Creating more connections between AUC and the local community, Emiko Stock, assistant professor of anthropology, tasked two of her classes last fall — Introduction to Digital Ethnography and Anthropology and Film— to conduct digital ethnographies of Egypt’s online communities and groups of creators in the country.

Students in Introduction to Digital Ethnography chose various online communities to investigate, while those in Anthropology and Film contacted groups of creators, including vloggers, writers and content creators, in order to better understand their motives. Topics ranged from costume designers and skateboarding to safe spaces and unfinished screenplays.

“The idea was for students to develop an understanding and familiarity with something that they think they’re already familiar with,” she explained. “That's the whole idea of anthropology — to make the strange feel familiar or to make the familiar feel strange.”

Salma Naguib, an anthropology senior, tracked several online recipe groups for her project. “I wanted to see the contrast between social identities, perceptions and the consumption of food in Egyptians,” she explained.

The project, she asserted, allowed her a different view of Egyptian society. 

“Interviewing people and seeing restaurants that I’ve never seen before provided not only a fresh perspective on the differences and similarities among Egyptians, but also [revealed] gender difference, social class difference and age difference when it comes to food consumption.

Another student, anthropology major and film minor Walid Zarrad, enrolled in both courses. While each project differed greatly from the other in content — one examined how an online group dedicated to discussing dreams and meditating was able to create a safe environment for participants, and the other explored the motives behind commercial filmmakers — he found that some of his overall perceptions too were changed as a result of this work.

“The challenge was for me to see my ideas and preconceived ideas during the interviews,” he noted. “For example, [in the online communities project] I thought of safety in terms of anti-discrimination and accessibility in terms of money and internet connection. While the group facilitators shared these ideas, they also spoke of accessibility issues experienced by people with disabilities and people with mental health concerns, and safety in terms of comfort and being able to share one’s thoughts.” 

On Zarrad’s website for this project, the sophomore concludes that the definition of terms like safety and accessibility are fluid and can vary depending on differences in culture and background.

Perceptions were not the only thing challenged throughout this project. Stock’s students also gained hands-on experience in conducting interviews and website creation, two elements that required them to adhere to strict deadlines, be adaptable and utilize new technology. 

“The rule of any ethnographic work is that it never goes according to plan,” Stock explained, stressing the importance of building “a skill set that relies on improvisation and problem solving.”

Both students noted that these projects differed greatly from what they were used to, as every aspect was conducted entirely online.

“It was a first — presenting a project in the form of a blog and meeting my interlocutors online,” Naguib said.

Stock added: “Hopefully, the students can reproduce this experience at any point in their career, whether they join a marketing company, a design collective, an NGO or a think tank. They need to master those tools not only from a digital point of view, but also to understand their worlds and other worlds a little better.”

Check out student projects from Introduction to Digital Ethnography here.

Check out student projects from Anthropology and Film here.

After conducting research at the University of Arizona, presenting at the World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics in 2020 and winning AUC’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award one year later, Nour-Lyna Boulgamh ‘21, an Algerian Amazigh and Tomorrow’s Leaders Scholarship recipient who majored in architectural engineering, now has her sights set on a larger feat: solving the housing crisis for displaced individuals in the Middle East and North Africa.

Boulgamh began her research during her junior year at AUC, when she studied under the tutelage of Magda Moustafa, associate professor of architecture, and got inspired by her work on designing for people with autism.  

“This experience was the lantern that illuminated my path into creating human-centered designs — those that prioritize humanitarianism over materialism,” she explained.

Boulgamh went on to earn a scholarship through AUC’s Tomorrow’s Leaders program to study abroad for a semester at the University of Arizona, where she explored the potential of using Virtual Reality (VR) in daylight design strategies, which seek to optimize the user’s perception and experience of space based on how and when daylight is allowed in.

With the help of a grant from AUC’s Undergraduate Research Program, Boulgamh published and presented her research at the 24th World Multi-Conference of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, an international forum aimed at fostering collaboration between researchers from various disciplines.

Her innovation and achievements throughout her time as an undergrad are what snagged her AUC’s 2021 Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award.

“When I won the award, I was extremely thrilled, motivated, proud and grateful for two main reasons,” she recalled. “First, because it reminded me of why I chose to be part of this institution, and second, because it supported my next academic journey in joining one of the world’s most prestigious schools of architecture: Harvard Graduate School of Design.”

Now at Harvard, Boulgamh is motivated to enact positive social change in both her professional and personal life by identifying and correcting inequities across both realms.

“Architecture isn’t pristine structures and ornate buildings; it’s ample with venues for corruption, sexism and racism, but also change,” she said. “As an undergraduate, I excelled at sketching and building structures, but as a Harvard graduate, I'll vehemently dismantle bigger structures — those of injustice.”

The young researcher expressed her gratitude for AUC and the Tomorrow’s Leaders program for supporting her along her journey.

Unable to pinpoint just one memorable moment at AUC, Boulgamh recalled how much she enjoyed the Tomorrow’s Leaders meetings, sessions and workshops. “They were the most fun and fruitful, as I had the opportunity to engage with renowned community leaders in several fields and have inventive conversations with my fellow TLers.”

The experience at AUC and in the Tomorrow’s Leaders program, according to Boulgamh, allowed her to build networking skills, become more politically aware and develop her overall resilience. Shortly after her acceptance to Harvard, a number of scholarship programs for international students were canceled worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic. With help from thousands of people worldwide, she was able to fundraise more than USD 20,000 and continue her dream.

"I am very grateful to every person who supported me," Boulgamh remarked, stressing to other students the importance of "trusting the process."

“AUC instilled in me the will to seek excellence, as it surrounded me with diverse yet like-minded leaders," she said. "The Tomorrow’s Leaders program shaped and sharpened my perspectives, opinions and leadership skills by pushing me to take action and embark on several leadership positions within AUC and beyond.”